"Beseech you, Sir, were you present at this relation?"
Winter's Tale.
On the following morning, the windows of the Lust in Rust denoted the
presence of its owner. There was an air of melancholy, and yet of
happiness, in the faces of many who were seen about the buildings and the
grounds, as if a great good had been accompanied by some grave and
qualifying circumstances of sorrow. The negroes wore an air of that love
of the extraordinary which is the concomitant of ignorance, while those of
the more fortunate class resembled men who retained a recollection of
serious evils that were past.
In the private apartment of the burgher, however, an interview took place
which was characterized by an air of deep concern. The parties were only
the free-trader and the Alderman. But it was apparent, in the look of
each, that they met like men who had interesting and serious matters to
discuss. Still, one accustomed to the expressions of the human countenance
might have seen, that while the former was about to introduce topics in
which his feelings were powerfully enlisted, the other looked only to the
grosser interests of his commerce.
"My minutes are counted;" said the mariner, stepping into the centre of
the room, and facing his companion. "That which is to be said, must be
said briefly. The inlet can only be passed on the rising water, and it
will ill consult your opinions of prudence, were I to tarry, till the hue
and cry, that will follow the intelligence of that which has lately
happened in the offing, shall be heard in the Province."
"Spoken with a rover's discretion! This reserve will perpetuate
friendship, which is nought weakened by your activity in our late
uncomfortable voyage on the yards and masts of Queen Anne's late cruiser.
Well! I wish no ill-luck to any loyal gentleman in Her Majesty's service;
but it is a thousand pities that thou wert not ready, now the coast is
clear, with a good heavy inward cargo! The last was altogether an affair
of secret drawers, and rich laces; valuable in itself, and profitable in
the exchange: but the colony is sadly in want of certain articles that can
only be landed at leisure."
"I come on other matters. There have been transactions between us,
Alderman Van Beverout, that you little understand."
"You speak of a small mistake in the last invoice?--'Tis all explained,
Master Skimmer, on a second examination; and thy accuracy is as well
established as that of the bank of England."
"Established or not, let him who doubts cease to deal.--I have no other
motto than 'confidence,' nor any other rule but 'justice.'"
"You overrun my meaning, friend of mine. I intimate no suspicions; but
accuracy is the soul of commerce, as profit is its object. Clear accounts,
with reasonable balances, are the surest cements of business intimacies. A
little frankness operates, in a secret trade, like equity in the courts;
which reestablishes the justice that the law has destroyed.--What is thy
purpose?"
"It is now many years, Alderman Van Beverout, since this secret trade was
commenced between you and my predecessor,--he, whom you have thought my
father, but who only claimed that revered appellation by protecting the
helplessness and infancy of the orphan child of a friend."
"The latter circumstance is new to me;" returned the burgher, slowly
bowing his head. "It may explain certain levities which have not been
without their embarrassment. 'Tis five-and-twenty years, come August,
Master Skimmer, and twelve of them have been under thy auspices. I will
not say that the adventures might not have been better managed; as it is,
they are tolerable. I am getting old, and think of closing the risks and
hazards of life--two or three, or, at the most, four or five, lucky
voyages, must, I think, bring a final settlement between us."
"'Twill be made sooner. I believe the history of my predecessor was no
secret to you. The manner in which he was driven from the marine of the
Stuarts, on account of his opposition to tyranny; his refuge with an only
daughter, in the colonies; and his final recourse to the free-trade for a
livelihood, have often been alluded to between us."
"Hum--I have a good memory for business, Master Skimmer, but I am as
forgetful as a new-made lord of his pedigree, on all matters that should
be overlooked. I dare say, however, it was as you have stated."
"You know, that when my protector and predecessor abandoned the land, he
took his all with him upon the water."
"He took a wholesome and good-going schooner, Master Skimmer, with an
assorted freight of chosen tobacco, well ballasted with stones from off
the seashore. He was no foolish admirer of sea-green women, and flaunting
brigantines. Often did the royal cruisers mistake the worthy dealer for an
industrious fisherman!"
"He had his humors, and I have mine. But you forget a part of the freight
he carried;--a part that was not the least valuable."
"There might have been a bale of marten's furs--for the trade was just
getting brisk in that article."
"There was a beautiful, an innocent, and an affectionate girl------"
The Alderman made an involuntary movement which nearly hid his countenance
from his companion.
"There was, indeed, a beautiful, and, as you say, a most warm-hearted
girl, in the concern!" he uttered, in a voice that was subdued and hoarse.
"She died, as I have heard from thyself, Master Skimmer, in the Italian
seas. I never saw the father, after the last visit of his child to this
coast."
"She did die, among the islands of the Mediterranean. But the void she
left in the hearts of all who knew her, was filled, in time, by
her--daughter."
The Alderman started from his chair, and, looking the free-trader intently
and anxiously in the face, he slowly repeated the word--
"Daughter!"
"I have said it.--Eudora is the daughter of that injured woman--need I
say, who is the father?"
The burgher groaned, and, covering his face with his hands, he sunk back
into his chair, shivering convulsively.
"What evidence have I of this?" he at length muttered--"Eudora is thy
sister!"
The answer of the free-trader was accompanied by a melancholy smile.
"You have been deceived. Save the brigantine my being is attached to
nothing. When my own brave father fell by the side of him who protected my
youth, none of my blood were left. I loved him as a father, and he called
me son, while Eudora was passed upon you as the child of a second marriage
But here is sufficient evidence of her birth."
The Alderman took a paper, which his companion put gravely into his hand,
and his eyes ran eagerly over its contents. It was a letter to himself
from the mother of Eudora, written after the birth of the latter, and with
the endearing affection of a woman. The love between the young merchant
and the fair daughter of his secret correspondent had been less criminal
on his part than most similar connexions. Nothing but the peculiarity of
their situation, and the real embarrassment of introducing to the world
one whose existence was unknown to his friends, and their mutual awe of
the unfortunate but still proud parent, had prevented a legal marriage.
The simple forms of the colony were easily satisfied, and there was even
some reason to raise a question whether they had not been sufficiently
consulted to render the offspring legitimate. As Myndert Van Beverout,
therefore, read the epistle of her whom he had once so truly loved, and
whose loss had, in more senses than one, been to him an irreparable
misfortune, since his character might have yielded to her gentle and
healthful influence, his limbs trembled, and his whole frame betrayed the
violence of extreme agitation. The language of the dying woman was kind
and free from reproach, but it was solemn and admonitory. She communicated
the birth of their child; but she left it to the disposition of her own
father, while she apprized the author of its being of its existence; and,
in the event of its ever being consigned to his care, she earnestly
recommended it to his love. The close was a leave-taking, in which the
lingering affections of this life were placed in mournful contrast to the
hopes of the future.
"Why has this so long been hidden from me?" demanded the agitated
merchant--"Why, oh reckless and fearless man! have I been permitted to
expose the frailties of nature to my own child?"
The smile of the free-trader was bitter, and proud.
"Mr. Van Beverout, we are no dealers of the short voyage. Our trade is
the concern of life;--our world, the Water-Witch. As we have so little of
the interests of the land, our philosophy is above its weaknesses. The
birth of Eudora was concealed from you, at the will of her grandfather. It
might have been resentment;--it might have been pride.--Had it been
affection, the girl has that to justify the fraud."
"And Eudora, herself?--Does she--or has she long known the truth?"
"But lately. Since the death of our common friend, the girl has been
solely dependent on me for counsel and protection. It is now a year since
she first learned she was not my sister. Until then, like you, she
supposed us equally derived from one who was the parent of neither.
Necessity has compelled me, of late, to keep her much in the brigantine."
"The retribution is righteous!" groaned the Alderman, "I am punished for
my pusillanimity, in the degradation of my own child!"
The step of the free-trader, as he advanced nearer to his companion, was
full of dignity; and his keen eye glowed with the resentment of an
offended man.
"Alderman Van Beverout," he said, with stern rebuke in his voice, "you
receive your daughter, stainless as was her unfortunate mother, when
necessity compelled him whose being was wrapped up in hers, to trust her
beneath your roof. We of the contraband have our own opinions, of right
and wrong, and my gratitude, no less than my principles, teaches me that
the descendant of my benefactor is to be protected, not injured. Had I, in
truth, been the brother of Eudora, language and conduct more innocent
could not have been shown her, than that she has both heard and witnessed
while guarded by my care."
"From my soul, I thank thee!" burst from the lips the Alderman. "The girl
shall be acknowledged; and with such a dowry as I can give, she may yet
hope for a suitable and honorable marriage."
"Thou may'st bestow her on thy favorite Patroon;" returned the Skimmer,
with a calm but sad eye. "She is more than worthy of all he can return.
The man is willing to take her, for he is not ignorant of her sex and
history. That much I thought due to Eudora herself, when fortune placed
the young man in my power."
"Thou art only too honest for this wicked world, Master Skimmer! Let me
see the loving pair, and bestow my blessing, on the instant!"
The free-trader turned slowly away, and, opening a door, he motioned for
those within to enter. Alida instantly appeared, leading the counterfeit
Seadrift, clad in the proper attire of her sex. Although the burgher had
often seen the supposed sister of the Skimmer in her female habiliments,
she never before had struck him as a being of so rare beauty as at that
moment. The silken whiskers had been removed, and in their places were
burning cheeks, that were rather enriched than discolored by the warm
touches of the sun. The dark glossy ringlets, that were no longer artfully
converted to the purposes of the masquerade, fell naturally in curls about
the temples and brows, shading a countenance which in general was
playfully arch, though at that moment it was shadowed by reflection and
feeling. It is seldom that two such beings are seen together, as those who
now knelt at the feet of the merchant. In the breast of the latter, the
accustomed and lasting love of the uncle and protector appeared, for an
instant, to struggle with the new-born affection of a parent. Nature was
too strong for even his blunted and perverted sentiments; and, calling his
child aloud by name, the selfish and calculating Alderman sunk upon the
neck of Eudora, and wept. It would have been difficult to trace the
emotions of the stern but observant free-trader, as he watched the
progress of this scene. Distrust, uneasiness, and finally melancholy, were
in his eye. With the latter expression predominant, he quitted the room,
like one who felt a stranger had no right to witness emotions so sacred.
Two hours later, and the principal personages of the narrative were
assembled on the margin of the Cove, beneath the shade of an oak that
seemed coeval with the continent. The brigantine was aweigh; and, under a
light show of canvas, she was making easy stretches in the little basin,
resembling, by the ease and grace of her movements, some beautiful swan
sailing up and down in the enjoyment of its instinct. A boat had just
touched the shore, and the 'Skimmer of the Seas' stood near, stretching
out a hand to aid the boy Zephyr to land.
"We subjects of the elements are slaves to superstition;" he said, when
the light foot of the child touched the ground. "It is the consequence of
lives which ceaselessly present dangers superior to our powers. For many
years have I believed that some great good, or some greater evil, would
accompany the first visit of this boy to the land. For the first time, his
foot now stands on solid earth. I await the fulfilment of the augury!"
"It will be happy;" returned Ludlow--"Alida and Eudora will instruct him
in the opinions of this simple and fortunate country, and he seemeth one
likely to do early credit to his schooling."
"I fear the boy will regret the lessons of the sea-green lady!--Captain
Ludlow, there is yet a duty to perform, which, as a man of more feeling
than you may be disposed to acknowledge, I cannot neglect. I have
understood that you are accepted by la belle Barbérie?"
"Such is my happiness."
"Sir, in dispensing with explanation of the past you have shown a noble
confidence, that merits a return. When I came upon this coast, it was with
a determination of establishing the claims of Eudora to the protection and
fortune of her father. If i distrusted the influence and hostility of one
so placed, and so gifted to persuade, as this lady, you will remember it
was before acquaintance had enabled me to estimate more than her beauty.
She was seized in her pavilion by my agency, and transported as a captive
to the brigantine."
"I had believed her acquainted with the history of her cousin, and willing
to aid in some fantasy which was to lead to the present happy restoration
of the latter to her natural friends."
"You did her disinterestedness no more than justice. As some atonement for
the personal wrong, and as the speediest and surest means of appeasing her
alarm, I made my captive acquainted with the facts. Eudora then heard,
also for the first time, the history of her origin. The evidence was
irresistible, and we found a generous and devoted friend where we had
expected a rival."
"I knew that Alida could not prove less generous!" cried the admiring
Ludlow, raising the hand of the blushing girl to his lips. "The loss of
fortune is a gain, by showing her true character!"
"Hist--hist--" interrupted the Alderman--"there is little need to proclaim
a loss of any kind. What must be done in the way of natural justice, will
doubtless be submitted to; but why let all in the colony know how much, or
how little, is given with a bride?"
"The loss of fortune will be amply met;" returned the free-trader. "These
bags contain gold. The dowry of my charge is ready at a moment's warning,
whenever she shall make known her choice."
"Success and prudence!" exclaimed the burgher. "There is no less than a
most commendable forethought in thy provision, Master Skimmer; and
whatever may be the opinion of the Exchequer Judges of thy punctuality and
credit, it is mine that there are less responsible men about the bank of
England itself!--This money is, no doubt, that which the girl can lawfully
claim in right of her late grand father!"
"It is."
"I take this to be a favorable moment to speak plainly on a subject which
is very near my heart, and which may as well be broached under such
favorable auspices as under any other. I understand, Mr. Van Staats, that,
on a further examination of your sentiments towards an old friend, you are
of opinion that a closer alliance than the one we had contemplated will
most conduce to your happiness?"
"I will acknowledge that the coldness of la belle Barbérie has damped my
own warmth;" returned the Patroon of Kinderhook, who rarely delivered
himself of more, at a time, than the occasion required.
"And, furthermore, I have been told, Sir, that an intimacy of a fortnight
has given you reason to fix your affections on my daughter, whose beauty
is hereditary, and whose fortune is not likely to be diminished by this
act of justice on the part of that upright and gallant mariner."
"To be received into the favor of your family, Mr. Van Beverout, would
leave me little to desire in this life."
"And as for the other world, I never heard of a Patroon of Kinderhook who
did not leave us with comfortable hopes for the future; as in reason they
should, since few families in the colony have done more for the support of
religion than they. They gave largely to the Dutch churches in Manhattan;
have actually built, with their own means, three very pretty brick
edifices on the Manor, each having its Flemish steeple and suitable
weather-cocks besides having done something handsome towards the venerable
structure in Albany. Eudora, my child, this gentleman is a particular
friend, and as such I can presume to recommend him to thy favor. You are
not absolutely strangers; but, in order that you may have every occasion
to decide impartially, you will remain here together for a month longer,
which will enable you to choose without distraction and confusion. More
than this, for the present, it is unnecessary to say; for it is my
practice to leave all matters of this magnitude entirely to Providence."
The daughter, on whose speaking face the color went and came like lights
changing in an Italian sky, continued silent.
"You have happily put aside the curtain which concealed a mystery that no
longer gave me uneasiness;" interrupted Ludlow, addressing the
free-trader. "Can you do more, and say whence came this letter?"
The dark eye of Eudora instantly lighted. She looked at the 'Skimmer of
the Seas,' and laughed.
"'Twas another of those womanly artifices which have been practised in my
brigantine. It was thought that a young commander of a royal cruiser would
be less apt to watch our movements, were his mind bent on the discovery of
such a correspondent."
"And the trick has been practised before?"
"I confess it.--But I can linger no longer. In a few minutes, the tide
will turn, and the inlet become impassable. Eudora, we must decide on the
fortunes of this child. Shall he to the ocean again?--or shall he remain,
to vary his life with a landsman's chances?"
"Who and what is the boy?" gravely demanded the Alderman.
"One dear to both," rejoined the free-trader "His father was my nearest
friend, and his mother long watched the youth of Eudora. Until this
moment, he has, been our mutual care,--he must now choose between us."
"He will not quit me!" hastily interrupted the alarmed Eudora--"Thou art
my adopted son, and none can guide thy young mind like me. Thou hast need
of woman's tenderness, Zephyr, and wilt not quit me?"
"Let the child be the arbiter of his own fate. I am credulous on the point
of fortune, which is, at least, a happy belief for the contraband."
"Then let him speak. Wilt remain here, amid these smiling fields, to
ramble among yonder gay and sweetly-scented flowers?--or wilt thou back to
the water, where all is vacant and without change?"
The boy looked wistfully into her anxious eye, and then he bent his own
hesitating glance on the calm features of the free-trader.
"We can put to sea," he said; "and when we make the homeward passage
again, there will be many curious things for thee, Eudora!"
"But this may be the last opportunity to know the land of thy ancestors.
Remember how terrible is the ocean in its anger, and how often the
brigantine has been in danger of shipwreck!"
"Nay, that is womanish!--I have been on the royal-yard in the squalls, and
it never seemed to me that there was danger."
"Thou hast the unconsciousness and reliance of a ship-boy! But those who
are older, know that the life of a sailor is one of constant and imminent
hazard.--Thou hast been among the islands in the hurricane, and hast seen
the power of the elements!"
"I was in the hurricane, and so was the brigantine; and there you see how
taut and neat she is aloft, as if nothing had happened!"
"And you saw us yesterday floating on the open sea, while a few
ill-fastened spars kept us from going into its depths!"
"The spars floated, and you were not drowned; else, I should have wept
bitterly, Eudora."
"But thou wilt go deeper into the country, and see more of its
beauties--its rivers, and its mountains--its caverns, and its woods. Here
all is change, while the water is ever the same."
"Surely, Eudora, you forget strangely!--Here it is all America. This
mountain is America; yonder land across the bay is America, and the
anchorage of yesterday was America. When we shall run off the coast, the
next land-fall will be England, or Holland, or Africa; and with a good
wind, we may run down the shores of two or three countries in a day."
"And on them, too, thoughtless boy! If you lose this occasion, thy life
will be wedded to hazard!"
"Farewell, Eudora!" said the urchin, raising his mouth to give and receive
the parting kiss.
"Eudora, adieu!" added a deep and melancholy voice, at her elbow. "I can
delay no longer, for my people show symptoms of impatience. Should this be
the last of my voyages to the coast, thou wilt not forget those with whom
thou hast so long shared good and evil!"
"Not yet--not yet--you will not quit us yet! Leave me the boy--leave me
some other memorial of the past, besides this pain!"
"My hour has come. The wind is freshening, and I trifle with its favor.
'Twill be better for thy happiness that none know the history of the
brigantine; and a few hours will draw a hundred curious eyes, from the
town, upon us."
"What care I for their opinions?--thou wilt not--cannot--leave me, yet!"
"Gladly would I stay, Eudora, but a seaman's home is his ship. Too much
precious time is already wasted. Once more, adieu!"
The dark eye of the girl glanced wildly about her. It seemed, as if in
that one quick and hurried look, it drank in all that belonged to the
land and its enjoyments.
"Whither go you?" she asked, scarce suffering her voice to rise above a
whisper. "Whither do you sail, and when do you return?"
"I follow fortune. My return may be distant--never!--Adieu then,
Eudora--be happy with the friends that Providence hath given thee!"
The wandering eyes of the girl of the sea became still more unsettled. She
grasped the offered hand of the free-trader in both her own, and wrung it
in an impassioned and unconscious manner. Then releasing her hold, she
opened wide her arms, and cast them convulsively about his unmoved and
unyielding form.
"We will go together!--I am thine, and thine only!"
"Thou knowest not what thou sayest, Eudora!" gasped the Skimmer--"Thou
hast a father--friend--husband--"
"Away, away!" cried the frantic girl, waving her hand wildly towards Alida
and the Patroon, who advanced as if hurrying to rescue her from a
precipice--"Thine, and thine only!"
The smuggler released himself from her frenzied grasp, and, with the
strength of a giant, he held the struggling girl at the length of his arm,
while he endeavored to control the tempest of passion that struggled
within him.
"Think, for one moment, think!" he said. "Thou wouldst follow an
outcast--an outlaw--one hunted and condemned of men!"
"Thine, and thine only!"
"With a ship for a dwelling--the tempestuous ocean for a world!--"
"Thy world is my world!--thy home, my home!--thy danger, mine!"
The shout which burst out of the chest of the 'Skimmer of the Seas' was
one of uncontrollable exultation.
"Thou art mine!" he cried. "Before a tie like this, the claim of such a
father is forgotten! Burgher, adieu!--I will deal by thy daughter more
honestly than thou didst deal by my benefactor's child!"
Eudora was lifted from the ground as if her weight had been that of a
feather; and, spite of a sudden and impetuous movement of Ludlow and the
Patroon, she was borne to the boat. In a moment, the bark was afloat, with
the gallant boy tossing his sea-cap upward in triumph. The brigantine, as
if conscious of what had passed, wore round like a whirling chariot; and,
ere the spectators had recovered from their confusion and wonder, the boat
was hanging at the tackles. The free-trader was seen on the poop, with an
arm cast about the form of Eudora, waving a hand to the motionless group
on the shore, while the still half-unconscious girl of the ocean signed
her faint adieus to Alida and her father. The vessel glided through the
inlet, and was immediately rocking on the billows of the surf. Then,
taking the full weight of the southern breeze, the fine and attenuated
spars bent to its force, and the progress of the swift-moving craft was
apparent by the bubbling line of its wake.
The day had begun to decline, before Alida and Ludlow quitted the lawn of
the Lust in Rust. For the first hour, the dark hull of the brigantine was
seen supporting the moving cloud of canvas. Then the low structure
vanished, and sail after sail settled into the water, until nothing was
visible but a speck of glittering white. It lingered for a minute, and was
swallowed in the void.
The nuptials of Ludlow and Alida were touched with a shade of melancholy.
Natural affection in one, and professional sympathy in the other, had
given them a deep and lasting interest in the fate of the adventurers.
Years passed away, and months were spent at the villa, in which a thousand
anxious looks were cast upon the ocean. Each morning, during the early
months of summer, did Alida hasten to the windows of her pavilion, in the
hope of seeing the vessel of the contraband anchored in the Cove:--but
always without success. It never returned;--and though the rebuked and
disappointed Alderman caused many secret inquiries to be made along the
whole extent of the American coast, he never again heard of the renowned
'SKIMMER OF THE SEAS' or of his matchless WATER-WITCH.
The End.